"The Met Office have issued warnings for later tonight for as much as 10-15cm of snow above 250m and 1-5cm of snow to town centres for the morning time and through Wednesday. Colder through Wednesday and more settled through Thursday."

Parts of Huddersfield experienced 'thunder snow' this morning — a heavy snow shower came accompanied by cracks of thunder and lightning shortly after 9.30am.

Weatherman Paul Stevens said: “It’s quite rare in these parts although we have had it once or twice in recent years in the Pennines, and there are regular instances out in the North Sea.

“It’s exactly like a normal thunderstorm with a heavy cumulonimbus cloud gathering with rain.

“But because it originated over Greenland and Iceland, the air inside was very cold, starting at minus 25 degrees, and it falls as hail or snow.”